(1) When a recorded mortgage on real property or land contract held by the authority has been paid or satisfied or when 15 years have elapsed since the debt secured by the mortgage or land contract became due and payable or since the last payment made upon it, and no civil action or proceedings have been commenced to collect the same, the owner of the land or property may institute an action in the circuit court to discharge the mortgage or land contract.

    (2) If it appears to the court at the trial, either by the production in evidence of the original mortgage, land contract, or note to secure the payment of which the mortgage was given, or by any other competent evidence, that the debt secured by the mortgage or land contract has been fully paid both in principal and interest; or if it appears to the court by competent evidence that the debt has been past due for 15 years, or that 15 years have elapsed since the last payment was made on the debt and that no action or proceeding has been commenced to foreclose or perfect the mortgage or land contract, the court shall enter judgment to that effect which contains within it the names of the witnesses and the nature of the evidence by which the facts have been made to appear. A minute of this shall be entered in the court’s journal. A copy of the judgment, signed by the judge or the court and attested by the clerk of the court under the seal of the court shall be delivered to the authority and may be recorded in the office of the register of deeds of the county or counties in which the mortgage or land contract is recorded in the same manner and with the same effects in all respects as if it were a formal discharge of the mortgage or land contract duly executed by the authority.